There is a technology for supporting the driver's operation of a vehicle in terms of safety by utilization of a camera mounted on the vehicle and a sensor for detecting an object existing in close proximity to the vehicle.
By way of example, there is a technology of presenting the image of the rear of a vehicle on a display. A camera called a back camera or a rear camera is attached at a position at which the camera is able to capture an image of the area located behind a vehicle. Then, the camera captures an image of the area located behind the vehicle, and the captured image is presented on a display device. The driver performs an operation such as driving and parking while confirming the image. A wide-angle camera is often adopted as the camera. The wide-angle camera enables the driver to confirm the area in a wider range than in the case of visual inspection using a rear-view mirror.
Also, there is a pedestrian recognition device that recognizes a pedestrian located in front of a vehicle using the image results captured by a visible light camera and a far-infrared camera mounted on the vehicle. Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-338594, for example, discloses a pedestrian recognition device. The pedestrian recognition device notifies the vehicle occupant of the presence of a pedestrian for which the recognition rate of pedestrian identification based on the image result captured by a far-infrared camera is high and for which the recognition rate of pedestrian identification by using a visible light camera is low.
Moreover, there is a technology in which a sensor capable of measuring the distance between a vehicle and an obstacle is installed in the vehicle, and the distance between the vehicle and the obstacle is sensed and indicated by a sound or an indicator lamp. For example, clearance sonar notifies the driver of the existence of an obstacle on the basis of the output of an ultrasonic sensor installed in a corner portion of the bumper.